As far as I remember, I have always been fond
of babies and have been equally loved by them too (as far as my understanding
goes!)! I am sure you know of those guys who tend to play/interact with any
young baby; yeah I am one of those categories! I enjoy every opportunity I get
when I get to spend time with babies and have been doing that for so many
years!
And thanks to my 2 lovely nieces – Nandini
& Samyukta I also got somewhat experienced in first-hand handling of
babies! They are my lifelines and have a very special place in my heart; and
yeah that space is booked forever by them!
We came to know that we are going to be parents
in May 2013 and since then the excitement, countdown and the hooplah started! I
just could not wait for our baby to arrive…being the hyper impatient person I
am, 9 months were too long a wait for me! But the ever so patient, calm, collected
Bandita was the calming force for the full duration of 9 months! No wonder we
complement each other so perfectly…
Bandita was so chilled out during the 9
months…I had heard horror stories from my friends about how their wives
transformed during this period but Bandita never threw any tantrums or
over-reacted! We even travelled to Cyprus
It was around 1:30 AM and I had just finished
watching the brilliant movie “Shahid” and Bandita told me “we need to go to the
hospital, looks like the TIME has come”! And all of us got really excited! We
had already got our Baby and Mother bags ready so within 10 minutes we were
ready to leave for the Hospital! I, Bandita and her sister Madhumita reached there Hospital
But wait…the fun, excitement and anxiety didn’t
end here! Madhu’s flight to Australia
via Abu Dhabi
And after all the waiting, travelling,
shopping, making all the Hospital visits and the excitement since May 2013,
Bandita delivered our baby boy “Abhay Jha” on Saturday 11-Jan-2014 at 2:15 PM
in the afternoon at the Al Seef Hospital here in Kuwait! See even Abhay loves
the weekends that he wanted to make his grand entry on a Saturday! Like father
like son you see!
The first emotion/feeling which came to my mind
when I saw him coming out of the OT in that crib was of extreme excitement and
that strange feeling “he can’t be my baby”; now don’t over-react and read why
before making any sort of conclusions! When he was born he was so fair I got
confused for obvious reasons! I thought maybe the nurses handed me the wrong
baby! But it couldn’t have happened as there was only one operation happening
in the OT when Abhay was born! And then I held him in my arms and he looked at
me with his drooping eyes! That peace my friends just can’t be described in
words!
My friends who are Fathers already had told me
the same thing in the past but this feeling can be best experienced oneself and
just cant be compared to words I have heard! After all Abhay is the only
creation I have (yeah yeah a co-creation with Bandita, but you get the hang
right!)…I haven’t created, designed or made anything from scratch so far in my
life so I can safely claim Abhay to be my first (and hopefully not the last)
creation!
Abhay means Fearless in English and hope he can
live up to his name meaning! His dad that is me was been one of the most afraid
kids of all time! When I was young our washroom was outside our house and going
to the loo in the nights was the most harrowing experience for me and almost
all the times I had to beg my brother to accompany me & he always used to
act pricey! Many more incidents of me being so fearful have happened in the
past and I am sincerely hoping that Abhay would reverse this trend for me!
Loads of our friends came to visit us in the
Hospital and got us a lot of gifts too! Lovely memories of those fun moments!
And this last one month has been one of the
most amazing experiences for us and I have had a fair share of amazing experiences
in my life so this really means much more than just special for me!
Just the joy of holding Abhay in my arms,
soothing & calming him when he is crying, talking to him when he is cranky,
changing his diapers, cleaning him and reading all those articles on the
internet to make myself a well-equipped father…this one month has taught me a lot
and I have learnt so many new things…damn exciting all of them!
Bandita & Abhay got discharged from the
Hospital on the 15th of January and he was welcomed to our Kuwait
Home with a short welcome ceremony by Bandita’s mother and then the tryst
started…
He has been sleeping his way to glory since
then…occasionally waking up for Milk and when he dumps! And during those
moments giving us enough time to have fun with him! He hasn’t given many sleep
less nights (as we were adequately forewarned) so far and we are hoping he keep
repeating his good work in the future too!
We have used some new techniques contrary to
what our parents & other elders have told us’ we have done them to ensure
he sleeps well …more details here:
- White
Noise - http://www.troublesometots.com/why-babies-love-white-noise/
- We
have downloaded an MP3 File in our iPad and play it on loop through the
entire night – I can’t say if that’s the only reason he sleeps well with
full surety but it has definitely helped since we started playing it!
- Swaddling
- http://www.pedsforparents.com/articles/3323.shtml
- We
have stopped doing it now as it restricts his leg movements now! But when
we did it definitely relieved him!
- Separate Bed for him - http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1904288,00.html
- We wanted to give it a try and
so far it has worked well for us! And yeah with Che’s Blessings!
He wakes up
2-3 times in the night; Bandita feeds him and I change his diaper and then he
is back to his own sleep world! And thanks to his somewhat regular sleeping
patterns we have even watched some movies together since his birth! Big thanks
to Abhay for allowing us such small mercies!
We had a
special infant photo shoot with Abhay on 20th January 2014 which was
taken by Kimberly Glass and the set of pics which she has sent are way too
awesome! I can’t share all those pics right now as they are yet to be edited
and we have been asked not to do so by Kimberly and I got to respect her
request! You can see some of her work at http://www.kimberlyglassphotography.com/
. Plus the first and topmost photo of this BlogPost is one of the pics from
that shoot!
The photo
shoot went for 3 hours & Abhay was quiet all the way through! That is
incredible considering he was just 10 days new that day! Yes, he didn’t cry
even once! Yeah he dumped twice and soiled 2 of her carpets but except those 2
dumping adventures he was camera friendly throughout! And I must complement
Kimberly for her impeccable preparations and the way she handled Abhay! Just
like a thorough professional! Waiting to see the final results so badly! Just can’t
wait now….
The biggest
learning or rather I should say change of a behavioural pattern for me has been
my sleeping habit! Before he was born if I used to wake up in the middle of the
night it used to take me atleast 20-30 minutes before I used to go back to
sleep and this has been the same since the last 20-25 years! But since he was
born I can go off & on between waking up and sleeping such seamlessly it has
surprised me a lot! And it is such a nice & welcome change for me! No more
tossing & turning in the bed for me anymore!
My duties
also include making the Formula Milk for him; that is a very short process
though so I have never felt any pinch! Plus warming the bottle in the night is
also a task I undertake many a times except when Bandita doesn’t disturb me and
does that on her own in the night! See even she shows some mercy on me! Hail
the merciful Bandita!
Abhay has
already made 3 trips outside! Once to an Indian restaurant here named “Swad”,
once to the Marina Beachside in the day and once to a Lebanese Restaurant named
“Palm Palace
His first
international travel trip is already planned! We would be gong to Kenya
Bandita’s
parents were here for a month and they were such a big help for us! Her mother
used to massage him everyday and that daily ritual has surely made him stronger
and more agile! And her dad used to keep cooing him and walking with him in his
arms across our home! Abhay used to enjoy those walks a lot! Plus their
priceless knowledge was a big boon for us too…
Now my
parents are here for a month and we are again gonna have a blast with this set
of Grandparents! I am sure my Father (who is fond of kids just like me) is
gonna spend his entire 30 days holding Abhay in his arms and talking to him
endlessly! The way Abhay was staring at him yesterday when he first held him in
his arms was so funny! He was like “who the hell is this old guy with a white
beard”!
Our new
life has just begun and we are damn excited for this new ride with our comrade
Abhay! We would ensure this ride is smooth for him and has some bumps too which
would make him a more resolute young boy and not the one who is used to
luxuries just like his parents were brought up!
Thanks to
God for making the journey such smooth so far and hope he continues blessing us
& Abhay forever!
Big thanks
to our families for making us what we are today and making us ready to become
parents and hopefully good parents!
I also want
to thank all my friends who wished and prayed for us; I must say that all those
wishes made a big difference and helped us sail through!
Till the
time we meet again…
Cheers to
life…
Till then
ride safe and have safe sex…
Hasta la
Victoria Siempre…
Jai BoP…
